


Edge of a Blade

by MarionMarionette



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Childhood Trauma, Elves, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Fantasy, Fluff and Angst, Hidden Talents, Kidnapping, M/M, Magic, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Orcs, Original Character(s), Psychological Trauma, Slow Build, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-02
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:47:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28497069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarionMarionette/pseuds/MarionMarionette
Summary: The band of outcasts, the was the nickname that one of Alec's housemates had given to his new group once they'd all started living together. He wasn't too fond of the title, but he couldn't think of anything that described them more perfectly. They all were outcasted from village society by some mysterious trauma that none of them could truly seem to remember, or at least talk about. They happened to find each other, though, and that was all that mattered.Well, WAS all that mattered. Until Alec finds himself suddenly separated from the band of outcasts and violently thrust into a world that he's quite certain he shouldn't be apart of. Constantly being held at the edge of a blade, Alec has to search for the meaning behind his past to find out where he's supposed to fit in in his newfound situation. Only to end up finding out he's less of an outcast than the picture painted him as...~More tags to be added as the story progresses~
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Kudos: 2





	Edge of a Blade

**Author's Note:**

> I recently was reading this really good fic (about minecraft youtubers) and ya know, it inspired me. And I haven't written anything in weeks, and the things I have written are just deleted drafts. So I just thought fuck it, ya know? Might as well write a fantasy slow burn about a twink with trauma being constantly held at knifepoint by a himbo with trauma and eventually falling in love and saving the world.
> 
> Enjoy the inner culminations of my mind.

A faint ringing permeated the heavy smoke that smothered the room in more ways than one. Muffled sounds were the only things Alec's throbbing ears could register. He felt tired. Too tired to lift his head, too tired to even open his eyes. He wasn't even sure if he could, if the blast had altered him in some way. Either way, he could barely think about it. The only thoughts flitting through his impacted mind was pain. Distant screaming and pain.

He felt a heavy hand land on his shoulder, shaking him with an almost inhumane grip that felt like it would pierce his skin at any moment, coupled with the cooling feeling of a shadow falling over his broken form. He could barely register the sounds coming from the form as syllables, at least not ones he could recognize.

Another blast rumbled the structure and the form's shaking renewed. He could almost feel himself being lifted up by the strong hands, but it was too hard to focus on any feeling other than agony. He felt something cold and wet land with a loud splatter on his cheek, then felt as it slowly rolled down his face, only to be joined by two more faint splatters that seemed to ring out in his mind. Couldn't help but wish that this form would just leave him alone and let him rest. He didn't exactly enjoy being splattered on.

He felt his eyelid twitch as a splatter landed expertly on his eyelid and he gave a weak groan that made his bones creak in the uncomfortable position his body was held in. He could feel the renewed efforts of the form above him as the person tried once again to get him to wake up. Not that he would have opened his eyes anyways, but they seemed to get the message as they began hulking him up and into their arms. He lay limp as he felt himself moving along with them. Going somewhere, not that it mattered to him. All he could think about was sleeping.

His fingers buzzed with a numb and uncomfortable feeling as he felt himself get more tired. The form above him was shouting something, hustling somewhere, but he couldn't focus. He could feel his mind drift away. He could hear.. he could feel...

-A hand slap itself down squarely on his cheek with a resounding 'smack.' "Open. Your! EYES!"

He obeyed with a jolt and a yelp, almost falling off the cot he was resting on. He fought to untangle himself from his damp sheets while rivulets of sweat continued to roll off of his shaking form. Not the most pleasant way to wake up, but he'd had worse. He blinked the sleep from his eyes and wiped away the strands of curly black hair that stuck to his forehead as he looked up at the figure of his housemate, Sandra, with her arms crossed and a glare apparent on her round face. He stuttered for a moment, but she interrupted him.

"Up-up-up! I don't wanna hear it. You missed the start of breakfast. Go wash off your face and come eat." And with that she uncrossed her arms and stalked out of the closet where Alec slept. He took a few more deep breaths, trying to calm his heart that had been pounding a million miles a minute just moments earlier. Eventually he was able to calm himself down enough to fully unwrap the sheets and sit up properly on his bed. This was a common start to his day, the nightmares. The slap was new, though.

Steeling himself against another inhalation of breath, he stood up, wincing as he did. His back ached something fierce and there was a ball of throbbing pain emanating from the space behind his left eye. He blinked a couple of times and tried not to sway as he slowly made his way out of the closet and into the bathroom of the room adjacent.

Once inside, he opened the curtains a tad wider to let fresher air flow through the small room. Once that was over, he sighed and stepped closer to the toilet to do his business. He was surprised he hadn't peed the bed last night, what with how utterly soaking they had been. Or maybe he had and had just managed to fill his bladder back up before sunrise. Wouldn't exactly be the first time something like that had happened..

Already the contents of his nightmare were starting to fade into fuzzy half-memories. He scrunched his face to try to hold onto the fragments a bit longer. It was so different from what actually happened.. At least he thinks so. It was always peculiar how his mind managed to twist his memories into a series of events that were far from the truth. With the amount of nightmares he'd had, at this point he might as well start forgetting the incident and replacing it with memories from his dreams. Which was possible, right? Forgetting reality that happened long ago? He was pretty sure that was something that could happen.

He closed the lid of the toilet and walked over to the bucket of water next to the door. He picked up a nearby cup and dipped it in, then held the full cup above his head and tipped it over, letting the cool water pour down his sticky hair and already damp face. It washed away the oily feeling of the sweat that covered every inch of his skin and he took another breath of relief as he dipped the cup down into the bucket to repeat the process.

Once he'd doused himself with water three times, he shook himself off like a dog and tried to pull his hair back and out of his face. It didn't work, for the most part, but it was good enough. He set the cup back down before he caught sight of his reflection in the water and began staring. He always happened to look so foreign to himself.

The scar across his nose always seemed like it was a little bigger, the gap in his teeth where a pearly white tooth used to be always looked a bit darker. The faded color from his left eye always seemed just a little bit paler.. he always looked a bit sadder...

He blinked once, then reached out into his reflection to graze his finger against its left eye. The water rippled under his touch and he inhaled sharply. Something about the imagery made him feel sick to his stomach, but he didn't feel like puking into the uncleaned bowl of the toilet that he'd just peed into.. So he swallowed it down and held his finger still until the ripples dissipated. His appendage hovered just over his eye, and in a way it almost looked as if he didn't have it. He couldn't decide if he looked any better. Not having his eye.. or only having the empty pupil just to remind himself that it _used_ to be able to see.

With a grimace, he smacked his hand down into the bucket, making water splash out over the sides to startle him. He looked down at the wet mess he'd made in the bathroom. Juno would kill him..

"Alec?" He heard a voice query from the bedroom next to the bathroom. "You okay in there?"

"Yeah," he replied, standing up straight again but letting his eyes drift back up to the distorted sight of his rippling reflection. The crooked entity in the water jeered at him and he closed his eyes tightly in response. "Just a headache. Do we have any more Iridius?"

"Nah, just ran out last week. But I've been meaning to go pick some lately. You wanna come with?"

He took another breath before finally opening his eyes and turning to the doorway. "Planning to stop by the village too?" He took a step out and met the gaze of another housemate, Bunny. "Juno said we should pick up some more fire starters."

Bunny scoffed and rolled their eyes, shifting their weight onto their other foot. "That man needs to learn to light his own god damn fires. But fine, since he likes to waste our money so much. Maybe it'll kill us quicker!" They snickered silently and turned back towards the door, no longer paying any mind to Alec. Alec watched them walk away for a second before slowly trailing along behind them. Everything seemed so slow nowadays..

"Junoooo, we're heading to the village later today, where did you put the coins this time?" Bunny called as they walked out into the hallway, their fluffy tail swishing along almost happily while they waited for a response.

Alec looked around for Juno's face as they left the hallway and found themselves in the kitchen. When he finally met the man's eyes, they definitely weren't too pleased to see him. He managed to keep the stare for a moment longer before he found himself looking away and a shameful blush spreading across his too warm face.

"How kind of you to grace us with your presence this morning for breakfast, Al."

"Sorry," he managed to get out.

Bunny crossed their arms and interrupted their short dialogue, "Hey. Coins, Juno. You wanted those damn fire starters, right?"

Alec continued to feel the burning stare of the older man imprint itself all over his face before it finally left to glance over at Bunny. Alec let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"Second row, third column, make sure you replace the floorboard properly when you're done."

Bunny hummed joyously and Alec watched from the corner of his eye as their tail twitched with pleasure. He envied his housemate, always finding something to be happy about even when it seemed like nothing could possibly be going well.

Bunny only shielded him from Juno's gaze for a moment, for as soon as Bunny had trampled off to go find the bag of coins they had stored, Juno was almost immediately back to narrowing his eyes at his mate. Alec could only let out something akin to a cough, answering, "Sorry. Had another terror.."

"You always have a terror," Sandra spoke up, spearing a piece of meat with her fork and shoveling it into her mouth. She chewed a few times before pointing her fork towards Alec with glare. "Start sleeping earlier and waking up earlier..! Maybe then you'll be up in time for breakfast." she managed to spit out between chews.

Alec grimaced at the sound of her speaking with her mouth full but said nothing else as he took a seat at the small, almost broken table of their dining room. He stared down at the table for a moment before looking up to meet the eyes of his housemates giving him the stink eye. He had the urge to apologize again.

Before he could let a sound fall from his lips, however, Bunny had already returned from their quest to retrieve the bag of coins, which they held up proudly as they cocked their hip upwards and placed their other hand on their waist.

"Did someone say shopping trip?" They smiled. The rest of the house was silent as they stared at their mate, who just shrugged and dropped their hand back to their side. "You guys were being tense, it was making me uncomfortable."

"Sorry," Juno said, looking down as his plate and scooping up a pile of fluffy eggs with his own fork. "I just think we need to talk with Alec about his terrors, and how," he turned towards Alec again, "they're not an excuse to break the promises that we all already agreed upon in the past several months that we've been together." The eggs fell off of his fork and plopped back onto the dish in front of him. Alec could feel the rising venom in his voice but tried to shrug it off.

"Sorry," he said again. "Really, I am. It's.. never been this bad before." He shrugged again. "I don't really know what got into me."

"Well get it out of you." This time Sandra was speaking up, even as she finished off her slice of bread. Alec wished so badly that she would just finish taking the bite before talking. "You were fine last month, what's changed this month?"

Alec had to wrack his brain for a while until he finally came up with absolutely nothing. Not thinking they'd take another 'no,' however, he decided to improvise.

"Look, I just.." he paused, not sure how to proceed. He wasn't always the best at improvising. "I've been thinking about my past lately, I guess. It's been harder for me to sleep the past few days, and I just had a lot to think about as I lay in the dark silence. It's not like I'm trying to, I swear. I just have those thoughts sometimes."

A look of worry crossed Bunny's face as they pocketed the pouch and took the seat across from Sandra. They turned to face Alec fully and took his hands into theirs.

"Everything okay, Alec? Do you want to talk about it?"

"No," Juno interrupted before Alec could even open his mouth. The attention of the table turned to him instantly. He wore a look of frustration and rage that made Alec's cheeks heat up in shame once again. "We're not breaking a rule just so you can solve your stupid childhood trauma or whatever. If you want to be counseled so badly, go see the village doctor." Alec could tell that Juno sensed his own voice raising, because he paused for a minute and took a deep breath, only continuing when his voice was level. "We agreed not to bring any trauma, drama, or past troubles into this house. We agreed on that. Whatever it is, you need to move on."

Alec stared at him for a moment longer, finally pulling his hands from Bunny's grip. Bunny gave him one last look of sympathy before standing up and returning to their room.

Juno's gaze searched him for a moment before he continued. "It's not your fault, Alec. And I'm sure maybe you do need to talk to someone. But not here, and not with us. You agreed on that, remember?"

"Yeah, I know," Alec nodded. "You're right. It's just what's been troubling me lately, I didn't mean to delve into it or anything."

Juno nodded once, then got up to walk away from the table, taking his dirty plate with him. Alec watched him go until his gaze landed on Sandra, who was giving him a peculiar look. Usually he's able to read faces pretty well, but the feelings that might have been hidden behind her narrow eyes and pouty lips escaped him.

The sound of Juno clearing his throat behind him startled him from his revelation as the older man placed a platter of meat, eggs, and bread piled high in front of him. He mumbled a curt "thanks" and Juno nodded once, finally taking his leave from the kitchen. 

He could feel the angry hunger pains subside in his body as soon as he took his first bite, almost melting. Juno's cooking was always decent. This morning's breakfast was salty, savory, and perfectly just sour enough to wake him from his post-terror sleep. He began gobbling it down thankfully. The chewing occupied his body for a minute, leaving space in his mind to roam.

He'd been living with his new group for the past 5 months, if he'd counted the day and night cycles correctly. He could still vaguely remember the day he'd met them. He was stumbling through the woods on a particularly hot afternoon, begging the gods for whatever shelter they could spare him from the arid climate that seemed to only swirl dry, hot air through his veins, when he happened across what seemed to be a rundown shack in the middle of the woods. He entered it without a second thought, thinking it had recently been abandoned due to the state it was in, because there seemed to still be some stale foodstuffs stashed away inside the creaky cabinets. He'd gorged himself for the first time in the last couple of weeks and took shelter in one of the closets in the back of the house. Only for him to wake up hours later to a sword hovering just in front of his face and three very angry people all looking down at him and shining a lantern into his eye so severely that he thought he was going to go fully blind.

After practically begging for his life, he'd offered to work off the amount of food he'd stolen from them by accident, and from then on he'd been living with them. Not that he hadn't paid off his debt, but after a week the band of outcasts offered him the closet to set up a cot and live with them in. The rest were fuzzy memories..

Living with them, though, had come with some rules he had to obey. Most of them were fine, too, he just-

His face scrunched up in pain as he let out a wet cough and doubled over into his half finished plate of breakfast. He hacked and wheezed for a few painful moments, feeling several sets of hands patting him harshly on the back (which in his opinion only seemed to make it worse) before the chunk of meat that'd lodged itself in his windpipe was finally expelled from his throat. He could feel a line of drool dribble down his chin and could only register the blush of shame that crawled across his features.

==

Alec left with Bunny half an hour later, both of them carrying a basket to bring back anything they managed to bargain for in the market. Alec wasn't exactly the type to like going into the village, he always felt like it proved to be nothing but trouble, but having Bunny with him gave him a sense of safety that he couldn't deny. Bunny could do anything for them, no one wanted to mess with a yuka. They were almost always proven to be stronger than humans. Alec was even surprised to see that a yuka happened to live outside of town like a hermit. Not like the creature couldn't intimidate their way into a nice warm inn every night.

But then again, after knowing Bunny for about five months, it was easy to see why they wouldn't do that. Bunny might have been the sweetest, most empathetic person that Alec knew. Still, that just meant it was even easier for Bunny to beat up punks that messed with those he considered friends. Alec hoped Bunny considered him a friend..

He drowned out Bunny's talking as they crossed over a stream, his foot just barely missing slipping off of a stone and landing in the cold morning water. He clenched his jaw and tried to forget that he was moments away from practically getting frostbite all up and down his leg, what with the chilly air beginning to practically turn all the nearby ponds and streams into solid ice. Bunny watched him to make sure he got across the rest of the way okay, then turned to continue down the familiar path into the village. Alec kept his eyes turned towards the pebbles and ferns, not wanting to slip on anything else.

Winter had approached fast, meaning the group had to refurbish the shack and get it to a point where one good snowfall wouldn't do them in for good. Alec had been almost completely useless during this time, as his scrawny limbs and messed up depth perception always had him stumbling about and struggling to lift up even the lightest of logs. However, the group managed to do just fine without him. He'd made a mental note to do something else for them in return whenever he got the chance. He hated having debt.

Lost in thought once again, he just managed to catch himself before stumbling down the steep slope that led from the forest into the village. Bunny snickered at him while holding out a hand to make sure he didn't practically tumble to his death.

"Thinking hard or hardly thinkin'?"

"What?"

Bunny shook their head, "Nevermind. So what other things do you think we should get? I was thinking maybe we might have enough money to buy some potatoes for dinner tonight? Think Juno wouldn't be too mad at our "wild" spending, as he likes to call it?" They began taking tentative steps down towards the slope. Alec watched them for a second then took his own step. Immediately he struggled, but was quickly caught by Bunny's hand on his arm. He'd forever be thankful to Bunny, he couldn't help but think.

"Well," he finally answered, "I was kinda hoping we could pick up some more scented oils? The bathroom is starting to smell really bad again, and not only do I have to smell it, but I also have to listen to Sandra complain about it to herself through the door of the closet."

Bunny chuckled again and shrugged. "Maybe Juno will think that'd be worth something." They made it to the bottom of the slope and the yuka finally let go of Alec's arm as they led the way into the village. "He hates Sandra complaining too, ya know."

Inside the village was busy as usual. Alec was almost always overwhelmed by all the sudden shouting, bustling, talking, and bumping into other living beings. He had half a mind to reach out and hold onto Bunny's sleeve to make sure he didn't get lost, as he often did, but was determined to keep an eye on the other person's form no matter how far away he got pushed by the vendors and customers all around him in the shopping center. He could be independent, after all. Had been for years before he'd finally happened across the group. No need to start acting clingy now when they could very easily still be scared away by him. He swallowed and tried to keep up.

Bunny paid him practically no mind as they walked up to the wood salesman. Alec felt nothing but relief as he finally caught up to his mate's hulking form and let himself relax while they took up bargaining with the nice old man. He watched them for only a while until his gaze began to drift away from the couple caught in their dialogue. He didn't like people, but people watching always seemed to interest him. As long as it was from afar.

Sure enough, he happened to spot what seemed to be a mother hurriedly dragging along her feisty child, who was clearly kicking and screaming for some object that they wanted but hadn't received. Upon closer inspection, the kid looked like they might be a hybrid. Alec guessed that it could be a human and an orc mix, although he was having trouble imagining the frail and exasperated looking woman being anywhere near an orc romantically, let alone sexually. It seemed like she was having quite a bit of trouble pulling the hybrid kid along, and the longer she was pulling them, the more frantic and louder the kid got. Even to the point where Alec had to wince slightly at the high pitched wail it'd managed to send out across the bustling crowd. He tried to muffle a snicker between his teeth and instead mustered up a look of pity to give to her if she ever happened to look his way.

Eventually the two got out of eye shot and, thankfully, ear shot, meaning that Alec's look of pity would forever go unseen and he'd never see the mother and her child again. But he was fine with this, of course. Since he hated children.

He turned back towards the crowd in front of him to see what else he could spot. The village-folk were particularly weird today, he accounted. He saw an animoid deer-person with a missing antler, making him wince in sympathy. A group of triplet teenagers who seemed to be running away from a grumpy looking dragon-born vendor who was chasing them down brandishing a dull looking meat cleaver. He spotted a hydra-morph trying to get their partner to buy them a new scarf of some sort, with the human looking very unimpressed by their antics. He even happened to lock eyes with a handsome looking dark elf that made him snap his head to the side as he felt a peculiar blush creep up his face again. He hoped the elf thought that it was just the cold freezing his cheeks and not the utter shame and embarrassment that came with meeting the gaze of someone who was so clearly better than you in every way.

When he looked back, the elf was gone entirely. He let out a sigh of relief and smiled to himself at how silly he was being.

He let his gaze scan the crowd once more before it finally came to land on something he could only describe as peculiar. A hulking set of hooded figures shrouded by the shadow of a nearby vendor. The couple seemed to be in the middle of a conversation with one another, and he almost just moved on to looking at something else, but something about the way they held themselves had him almost frozen in his spot. Something about them didn't seem right.. it was as if they weren't even a part of this realm. Like someone had painted the scene before him and a small child scribbled in the two figures on top of the already painted scene. Something about them felt extremely wrong.. was Alec the only person seeing them?

He managed to tear his eyes away from the figures and took another glance out at the crowd. No one seemed to be paying them any mind, not even the small children passing them by who normally would feel more than entitled to stop and stare at the two strange shadows that were looking unnecessarily creepy in this comfortable village scene. No one was batting an eye. Maybe he really was just seeing them. Maybe his night terrors had him hallucinating all of a sudden. Just to make sure, he looked back towards where he thought he'd seen them.

His blood froze under his skin.

They were looking at him. They were _looking at him_. He could barely tell, their eyes weren't even visible, but they had stopped talking to one another and were instead facing him head on, stood stock still in the middle of an otherwise normal looking crowd. His skin felt prickly where he imagined he could feel their eyes roaming. All of a sudden, puking seemed like a viable option to bring back from this morning's ordeal with his reflection.

"Bunny," he almost whispered out before clearing his throat and trying again. "Bunny? I think we should go now."

He couldn't even hear Bunny's response as the two figures seemed to flicker right before his eyes. The shadows hiding them appeared to be stretching out towards the crowd, undulating and pulsing with some strange magic Alec had never seen before. Maybe this was still a dream. Maybe he was still having a night terror in some way. There was no way that what he was seeing was real. He closed his eyes and shook his head violently.

"Bunny? We should go _now_."

He turned back towards his friend, only to find them absolutely nowhere in sight. His breath caught in his throat and he pictured himself for a moment just dropping dead on the spot from the sheer shock and uncharacteristic terror that he felt in the moment.

Everything in his body felt like it was icy cold but scorching hot at the same time. Everything felt frozen but also buzzing with energy. He wanted to run, he wanted to curl up, he wanted to scream for help, he wanted to pass out on the spot. He wanted to cling to Bunny's sleeve and follow him out of the market like he should have been doing since the beginning. Why did he ruin things for himself? Why did he always ruin things for himself?

He caught his thought midair and took a deep breath. He needed to relax. He was overreacting.. The terror from last night had his mind acting a little wonky, but that didn't mean he needed to scream and curl up and make a scene like a toddler lost in the middle of a marketplace. He tried to remember the breathing exercises that Sandra had taught him when she'd been so tired of his constant panic attacks. He breathed in and out slowly, counting the seconds as if they were moving through time and space like molasses. Everything would be okay. He was going to be okay. Everything would be..

He pursed his lips and tensed up once more. It was just a hallucination. His gaze started wandering back to where the figures had been. Just a hallucination. They wouldn't be there again when he looked, he was sure of it. He paused, not wanting to fully turn and see the pulsing shadows that the figures had left behind. He'd rather walk away without ever knowing. But he had to know, he had to reassure himself. He had to see. It was just a hallucination. It was just a hallucination.

His eyes landed on the spot again and he could physically feel his wound up soul unraveling in relief.

The spot was completely empty. It wasn't even all that shadowy, now that he was looking closer.

He couldn't help but chuckle to himself. What a child he was. He really was too clingy, he thought as he continued to stare for a second longer. He'd just wanted an excuse to hold onto Bunny. That's all it was, that's all it had ever been.

He took another counted breath and turned to face the crowd again. He had some searching to do if he ever wanted to be able to get back to the shack again. Bunny knew the path better than him.

He began walking, trying to make himself as small as possible as he brushed past the people all around him. Meanwhile his eyes grazed over the heads of all the figures rushing past. Bunny would find him eventually, Bunny had a keen sense of smell. Or maybe that was just a running joke with them. Since Alec kind of still thought of Bunny as some weird bunny rabbit animoid or morph. He snickered to himself as he picked up the pace. He was going to be okay. Everything was okay.

It would have been okay, too, if he hadn't suddenly been grabbed and yanked into a nearby dark alley between too tall stalls. His yelp of surprise was cut off by a thick, dark hand coming to cover both his nose and mouth. He gasped and tried to twist away in horror, only to feel himself being pushed against a wall and surrounded by what he could only describe as a rough, dark, and smothering fabric. The fabric wrapped around his limbs as if it had a mind of its own and he found, with a horrifying realization, that he couldn't move a muscle.

He tried to scream into the calloused flesh wrapped around his jaw, his eyes wide as his eye frantically searched for the source of his sudden change of scenery. He could barely focus on the hulking figures leaning over him as a mixture of tears and exhaustion from lack of air began to cloud his sight.

He felt the hot breath of a deep chuckle rustle his hair softly as the form that was suffocating him with just one hand leaned down to talk to him. "Pretty thing we have here, huh?" He could feel the depth of its voice resonate through his body, starting up a sick shiver that worked its way down his spine and into his limbs and refused to leave all of a sudden.

"Aw, you're scaring it," the other figure spoke up, sounding just as amused as its counterpart. "Look at the poor thing shaking like a leaf. You're gonna give it a heart attack if you hold it like that."

The tears in Alec's eye finally spilled over down his face and onto the hand that was smothering him, making the twins coo at him once more with a dark chuckle.

Alec had heard of human trafficking before. There was no one in the world who hadn't. Poor unsuspecting humans, sometimes just any random creature. would be carried away, broken, and sold to the highest bidder for one reason or other. He was always aware of this possibility, but he thought he'd be safe in the guise of the crowd around him. He thought people would see and react. He thought Bunny would protect him. But as he was held there, his vision slowly starting to black out, he continued to hear the hustle and bustle of the rest of the villagers just outside of the alleyway, living their lives and not giving a care to the poor boy that was covered in shadows and being stolen away from the life he once knew. He let out a weak sob and stopped struggling, his mind too heavy to focus on anything other than sudden helplessness and the regretful thought that he should have just held onto Bunny's sleeve.

"Don't worry, little thing," The figure smothering him continued, "We know just what you are. And we're going to take good care of you. Legion's honor."

Alec's head drooped against the hand as he was finally beginning to give up. He couldn't take in even one breath around the mound of flesh. He was so frightened, so surprised, confused, and scared. He just wanted to sleep. His eyes just wanted to close. His body slumped, going limp. His eyes fluttered close and his breath stuttered in his chest.

Just before he was finally able to take a big gulp of air.

**Author's Note:**

> What are your thoughts! Comments are always appreciated.
> 
> Thanks for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter!


End file.
